Warhammer Online open beta testing

2008-08-21
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Warhammer Online logo

Warhammer Online >



  • betacenter.eamythic.com} – Beta tester login
  • herald.warhammeronline.com/betajournal/ – Beta Journal

  • Open Beta Details

Table of Contents [hide]

Beta NDA lifted ∞

I’m not sure if I’m even bound by it, since I’m an open beta tester and it’s a closed beta NDA.

The beta NDA has been lifted

Open Beta ∞

Well it looks like things are opening up. I’ll be participating in the beta preview and then the open beta.

2008-08-22 – Preview Weekend Invite ∞

I’ve been welcomed into the preview weekend.

I tried to download the beta client via BitTorrent, and I realised that I had next to no drive space on this box.

The first thing I notice is that within minutes my share ratio is over 1. There are a LOT of people downloading this.

Then my system had an entertaining time preparing the EncFS swap space for the download, but after a few minutes things cleared up.

This might not be the best way to download.. I saw 23 days left. Haha. I let things sit and watch the download speed increase over time. It’s normal for BitTorrent.

Sweet, it came with a player guide. I didn’t have to wait for everything to download or for the invite date to come to start to get in on things. =)

I read through it, and it’s simple stuff. It repeats much of what’s already out there, but it goes into some more specifics of stuff which I hadn’t known about yet, which is nice.

Notes ∞

There’s a beta forum. Also check the ‘known issues’ thread..

The docs list paths to take, people to talk to, etc..

  • p58 says – Test RvR by keeping at least one high level character from each realm on your account

questions/issues:

  • p9 – “will activated them” => “will activate them”
  • p11 – is there an automatic/default loot all?

  • p11 – can dropped items be picked up by others?

    • what happens to them?

  • p15 – is there tab completion on /invite <playername>

    • are there rules for stupid names with untypeable invalid characters?
  • p18 – Can the influence I earn with public quests be kept for the next repeat of the quest? Or do I have to wait until there’s a reset and pounce on it to grind as much influence as possible right from its start?
  • p34 – Path of Retaliation starts mid-sentence.
  • p50 – “moving.around” => “moving around”
  • p55 – “be they friend or for” => “be they friend or foe”
  • p57 – “Battlefield Objectives” => “Battlefield Objectives (BOs)”

  • p57 – “Battlefield objective” => “Battlefield Objective “

I sent these to them through their feedback form.

Preorder for public beta ∞

UPDATE: pre-order for the open beta September 18th-ish

Initial notes ∞

If accepted, I would be bound by a 10-page agreement. It seems unlikely that I would be, this late in the game’s development and seeing as a friend of mine has heard no response and his application was some time ago.

I am unable to report anything, including the feedback I have given, because all feedback is given to them as their exclusive property.

I would also be unable to answer any questions or make any comments which are not supported by officially-released information. This would make things a bit strange, but I could deal with citing videos or texts if I was careful about doing that right.

I think it’s safe for me to talk about the actual agreement, since that’s publicly available to anyone who visits the application page.

  • 5.4 – Character data is played in a separate sandbox environment and will most likely not be exported to a live realm and will be deleted upon game launch.
  • 5.5 – RAM is monitored for hacks/etc.
  • 5.6 – Some feedback may be cool enough for you to be given attribution for it.
  • 6.2 – Report the bugs you find, or they kick your ass.
  • 6.3 – After the beta is over, you return everything.
  • 7.1 – A number of clauses survive even after the beta test is concluded.

  • Addendum C is quite an impressive code of conduct.

Testing Idea: Griefing ∞

Test the mechanics for and against griefing.

  • Getting in the way / collision detection

  • Insulting
  • Spamming
  • Spying
  • Stealing (e.g. guild bank)
  • Trade scams
  • Getting other people killed (luring mobs?)
  • Ineptitude — Could there be a player-rating system? Player notes?
  • Insulting names
  • Mob tagging/kill stealing

  • … any other ideas?

Possible issues ∞

With my ear to the ground, I’m hearing some other players talk about some issues..

2008-08-22 – The epic struggle ∞

This was quite a misadventure. Setting up and patching the game took quite a lot of hoop jumping.

  1. torrent2.eamythic.com/WarBeta.torrent – Downloaded the beta torrent to a Linux box.

    • tracker: http://torrent2.eamythic.com:8085/
    • Oh man, I should have downloaded the beta files on the machine I was going to play on.
  2. Samba won’t allow large files to be copied!
  3. I had to split up the files onto three DVDs, and it took forever to burn and copy things off. No seriously, it took a good hour or so!
  4. I move the files to C:\Program Files\WarBeta and give complete permission to my regular user.

  5. accounts.eamythic.com/subscription/list

    • In the “features” tab, I confirm that my account has access to the weekend preview.
  6. ran the installer (as the administrator), which worked fine
  7. I was forced to do a directX update, which needed some hurdle-jumping, to get it from Microsoft.
  8. I ran warpatch.exe (as the administrator) and it automatically updated itself.
  9. It then automatically ran warpatch.exe again, and it refuses my login, saying “authentication failed”. I am certain I am entering the information in correctly.

  10. accounts.eamythic.com/password/war/61241/change

    • Change password to something else, no luck

  11. accounts.eamythic.com/billing/edit

    • I’ve also tried adding my billing information, without luck. It looks like that information doesn’t “stick”, so this could be an issue.
  12. Sometimes after a few failed login attempts with the patcher, it will give me the proper patcher window with “The program was unable to complete the patch operation. Please try again later.”
  13. I have re-tried several times over the course of today, all with the same results.
  14. I completed a webform through support.darkageofcamelot.com/help/ [ 2 ] and had no response.
  15. I did some research to confirm that some other players without beta access but who do have the weekend play are able to patch and play.

  16. I was on hold for 30 minutes or more, and ended up with a 45 minute phonecall total, speaking with a VERY good tech..

    • Technical support: 703-934-0169, 2. Hours of operation are Monday through Friday 11am-8pm EST.
  17. I confirmed that my account does indeed have the correct flags for me to participate in this weekend’s gameplay.
  18. After my phonecall with this tech, I tried directly connecting myself to my net connection, with no hardware firewall in the way. I do not have a software firewall. The results are the same.
  19. I did some more fiddling, to no avail.
  20. Next, I emailed war-betacenter at mythic.ea.com for help. I have no support number, and no beta forum access.
  21. I attempted to do a verification of the files through BitTorrent, but Windows/BitTorrent is just too awful and I give up after three programs. The third one wanted to re-download everything to a new folder and had no easily-found features to specify a check. I just gave up.
  22. Time passed… I would come back to this later that afternoon/evening.
  23. Attempts to call tech support again just gave a half a ring and then dead air.
  24. Got a reply to my email to war-betacenter at mythic.ea.com from warbeta at ea.com. They had reset my password. It didn’t work.
  25. I replied that their advice didn’t work, and also said maybe a new account should be set up in case there are issues with the present one.
  26. I did some more forum hunting, but nobody seems to know what’s going on.
  27. At about 7:50, 10 minutes before they close, I started getting a busy signal when I called. But this one time let the busy signal go and then I got their message. Pressing 2 for technical support didn’t work at first, then it did and I got silence. I wasn’t able to reproduce this.
  28. 7:57 — I actually got through. But since I was on hold for 1/2 an hour last time, I wonder if I’ll get to speak to a human.. a few minutes in I’m told I’d have to wait about 1 more minutes. 10 minutes pass.. then it tells me the average wait time is 10 minutes or longer. No duh.
  29. I got through! I even got the same tech (Ryan) as last time, although he didn’t remember me.
  30. Tried moving the folder from C:\Program Files elsewhere. No luck.
  31. He tried logging in with my username/password, and it worked!
  32. Tried safe mode with networking. No luck.
  33. 42 minutes on the phone in total. The only thing we can conclude is to try a fileplanet download.
  34. Fileplanet won’t accept my code.
  35. I did some research
  36. I disabled my AdBlock Firefox extension. No luck.
  37. Have to visit their support centre, and sign up and submit a ticket. Sigh. This took me through several obnoxious mazes, requiring me to add security exceptions twice to sign up and log in securely.
  38. I was about to fill out a support form, when I decided to try again using Internet Explorer.
  39. Visited www.fileplanet.com/betas/who_key_auth.aspx
  40. Logged in to my account
  41. Now it’s not asking for my key?
  42. Now it lets me download their “Download Manager” program.
  43. I had to muck about a bunch, including installing Flash for Internet Explorer. It’s a confusing system to work with.
  44. I failed to get the files to a C:\Program Files sub-folder, so I retried to one on my desktop.
  45. .. The fileplanet download is working, and with a 4 hour download too. Not bad, but it ruins the potential for tonight’s gameplay.
  46. I checked email and for some reason I have a funny email with a fileplanet key. I’ve got no clue what I’m doing.
  47. .. It’s 9:50 and the download has about 3h15m left. I’ll take a break, grab a nap and come back when it’s done.
  48. .. It finished on time, the download speed was held at a consistent speed. But now it’s going through some kind of “unlocking file” phase. I hate Windows. Wait a second, they’re lying. They’re actually checking the files for consistency aren’t they?
  49. It finishes. I go to the folder, which mysteriously has a sub-folder of WarhammerOnline_Beta_encr. I go in and I run the setup, which works. It runs the patcher, which updates itself. It asks me to log in, which works. Now it’s downloading additional patch data. It looks like it’s working! It shows some numbers changing, but gives no units so it’s not meaningful. progressing from 0 to 153953. It finishes after a bit of time, showing me an agreement. I continue, and it applies the patch and I’m given a “play” button.

  50. Solved!

Some other players without beta access but who do have the weekend play are able to patch and play ∞

Research on Fileplanet codes ∞

Footnotes


  1. was betacenter.eamythic.com/user_menu.php [ ↩ ]
  2. archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20110105090503/http://support.darkageofcamelot.com:80/help/[ ↩ ]
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